The Magpie Lord was an incredibly enjoyable read-- one which I welcomed after a lengthy and tedious dry spell of books (which I attempted to fill with smutty Drarry fanfiction). It is such a rich and lovely book with "a certain je ne sais quoi". The intrigue was deliciously twisty and good lord the dialogue *whimper*-- I could get a boner from that, and this is despite my obvious lack of the necessary equipment. But even better than that was the wit of the dialogue which so cleverly accompanied the brilliantly colourful characters. I could smooch them all. Seriously. The Magpie Lord is an imaginative and intelligent book which managed to simultaneously uphold a strong Victorian atmosphere, this immense, sizzling sexual tension (oh god I want to see Lucien and Stephen fuck properly and for chapters on end), charming and humorous dialogue, and wonderful writing-- all with my utter and undivided attention watching it like a magpie fixated on a shiny.